9.List and define three (3) types of sheet goods that represent the best choices for the finished level of a stage platform.

10.What is the difference between a standard platform leg and a compression leg?

11.What sheet good looks like chip-board but isn’t chip board, and why might we elect to use it?

12.What is the most typical piece of lumber we order and what would be a disadvantage or ordering it narrower and ordering it wider?

13.What is “strap”, what is attractive about it, and what might we be able to use it for?

14.What is true about lumber and aluminum that is not true for steel, and why might it be important?

15.List an advantage and a disadvantage for using .125” wall steel tube.

16.List and explain three (3) reasons you might decide to build a Hollywood flat rather than a theatre flat.

17.Sketch out and define a “tumbler”.

18.Define “parallels” and list three (3) advantages of the fabrication technique.

19.Explain what a “stress-skin” is and list two (2) situations that are a good opportunity for their use.

20.What was the vocabulary for ordering 3/8” bending lauan, and which means which?

21.List and define (2) methods for hard coating 3d scenery.Give an advantage and a disadvantage of each.

22.What is “proof testing” and what load should I use in such a test?

23.A piece of hardware in a catalog is listed with a 400# WLL.The catalog also says WLL’s are determined with a 6:1 design factor.How much load can I put on this piece of gear in a standard overhead application?

24.Identify and explain two (2) advantages and two (2) disadvantages of a hemp set.

25.Explain the limiting factor for the travel of a hemp set.

26.Explain the reason(s) that it is sometimes difficult for the operator to get a contour curtain (Tab, Austrian…) to close.

27.Explain the operational, compositional, and structural differences between a standard roll drop and an Olio.

28.What are traveler carrier backpacks, what are they for, and how do they work?

29.List and define each of the three (3) basic types of knots.

30.What knot that we learned has a built in mechanical advantage, and what is it used for?

Backstage: Shyamalan told reporters that he believes the film will be "one of the most incredibly diverse movies of all time" and claimed that his only concern was casting the best actor for each role, regardless of race. When, in a follow-up conversation with UGO.com, a writer pointed out that the film will feature a villainous nation of Asians attacking nations led by three white heroes, Shyamalan replied, "It's called irony."

iSquint.net: This Saturday is a very important Saturday, it is the ESTA Foundations By Design Day. Why is it so important? It is a day where professional designers have committed to donating their royalties for the day to ESTA Foundations, Behind the Scenes. Top lighting designers around the world have already committed their royalties to help our fallen or ill brothers and sisters in the industry.

BBC News The Royal Shakespeare Company has delayed its new production of Antony and Cleopatra after the lead actor was "seriously" injured by a prop firearm.Darrell D'Silva sustained the injury to his hand during technical rehearsals. via ArtsJournal

Theater For The Future: "One of the things that’s cooking is coming up quick – on May 3rd 5pm at the Goodman, there’s a big ol’ exposition and awards ceremony of the work done by theatrical designers in Chicago. Perhaps you’ve heard of it: The Michael Merritt Awards."

2am: "In today’s Washington Post, Peter Marks imagines a new hope for theatre with a touch of audacity. (Go ahead and read it. We’ll wait.)The short version is, he considers a world in which the White House could support more live theatre–dramatic work in particular–perhaps coordinated by Rocco Landesman and the NEA. After all, “[i]t’s embarrassing that many embassies in Washington are more aggressive about showcasing their nations’ plays and players than is the hometown administration.” His proposal is intriguing, but it really only scratches the surface…He suggests enlisting Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights to craft one-act plays that could be performed at the White House itself, maybe with all star casts volunteering their time to perform. Perhaps their work could revolve around a theme, perhaps not. He then suggests expanding the roster to include “prize worthy” playwrights as well. And he suggests that Landesman might be ideally suited to coordinate such a project.It’s a good idea. As a playwright, I could get behind that idea. But then I got to thinking."

Monday, April 19, 2010

www.denverpost.com:New York's Theatre Communications Group filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday asking it to rule in favor of a consortium of three Colorado theater companies that smoking within the context of a theatrical production is a First Amendment right of free expressionCurious Theater, Paragon Theatre and the now defunct Theatre 13 have engaged in an ongoing, four-year legal battle to win an exemption from Colorado's statewide indoor smoking ban that would allow smoking during theatrical performances.The theater companies have lost in every step of the legal process to date. So on Dec. 31, Curious Theatre producing artistic director Chip Walton announced he would petition the U.S. Supreme Court for the right to smoke non-tobacco products in theatrical productions. Via Stage Directions

NYTimes.com: "Jordan Yospe had some notes on the script for “The 28th Amendment,” a thriller about a president and a rogue Special Forces agent on the run. Some of the White House scenes were not detailed enough, Mr. Yospe thought. And, he suggested, the heroes should stop for a snack while they were on the lam."

Abilene Reporter News: "Cutting a better deal on college financial aid can be more than a parents’ fantasy.Increasingly, private schools are quietly using the practice to help attract the students they want in a challenging economy.The practice of increasing aid on request has emerged relatively recently as college tuition has soared almost out of reach for ordinary families, according to Bruce Hammond, an independent college counselor based in Charlottesville, Va."

The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com: "During this great recession, more and more students and young people are accepting unpaid internships because there simply aren’t paying gigs available.Some employers are taking advantage of this, deceiving young people and offering shallow experiences that won’t actually help them develop professional skills.Now the Obama administration wants to crack down on these abusive practices."

Roger Ebert's Journal: "Having once made the statement above, I have declined all opportunities to enlarge upon it or defend it. That seemed to be a fool's errand, especially given the volume of messages I receive urging me to play this game or that and recant the error of my ways. Nevertheless, I remain convinced that in principle, video games cannot be art. Perhaps it is foolish of me to say 'never,' because never, as Rick Wakeman informs us, is a long, long time. Let me just say that no video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form."

Backstage: In its battle with AGMA over Broadway dancers, Equity is stepping up. In a statement today, Actors' Equity Association spokeswoman Maria Somma said the claim by Alan Gordon, executive director of the American Guild of Musical Artists, that his union is better equipped to represent dancers on Broadway is "nothing more than empty rhetoric designed to make a good sound bite."

TACT: "In the desire to provide students with the biggest and most up to date means of production, undergraduate and graduate theater programs hinder students from exploring the entrepreneurial work that is required when working in small theater spaces, with limited resources and budget. Therefore, when Bergman was asked to create the theater curriculum for North Park University, he looked to the model he had been working close with, the Chicago Storefront Theatre."

Fast Company: "Agents, Blackley claims, are a necessity. Unlike the makers of film, television, or music, video-game creators are faceless. Because the industry has tied its financial fate to the franchise model, publishers push brands rather than individuals and often bury credits. 'Creative people can be pushed around,' says Tim Schafer, the CAA client behind Brutal Legend. 'I can't just walk into a meeting with a publisher and say, 'I'm the man.'' But Blackley can, and he argues that doing it is in everyone's best interest. 'When creatives are happy, they do better work,' he says."

Monday, April 12, 2010

Arts Marketing: "Part three of the series features responses from two experienced theatrical marketers--one that works at one of the finest training institutions in the nation, and the other works at a top Broadway marketing and advertising firm."

Reuters: "They are Hollywood's production assistants, the lowest-paid workers on the set -- if paid at all -- and the only ones without a union, the only ones no union even wants to bother with. In Hollywood's caste system, they are the untouchables.These PAs work in nearly every phase of production and postproduction, and sometimes their employers break the law by not even paying them."

Techdirt: "Following our recent story about copyright on Mardis Gras costumes, it seems that now we're hearing more and more about costume copyrights. THREsq points us to the news of a lawsuit involving the maker of those 'gorilla holding a cage' Halloween costumes (pdf) claiming that a competing gorilla-holding-cage costume maker was violating its copyrights"

Yahoo! News: "Google Inc is expected to be sued by photographers, illustrators and other visual artists who claim the company is infringing their rights by scanning and displaying their work without compensation."

Stepcase Lifehack: "Are you too connected? Have you handed too much time over to ever-present technological marvels that offer charming reasons to take up every moment of your life? If you,* Reach for your phone the moment you wake up * Check your email while still working on a reply * Have ever silenced your child or ignored a loved one’s voice so you could pay attention to “internet friends” * Can’t go more than 30 seconds of silence without breaking out a mobile deviceThere’s a good chance you might be suffering from over-connectedness. What’s the solution? For many, a little time away from the madness is all it takes to regain a healthy perspective and jump back in with a smile."

Monday, April 05, 2010

Los Angeles Times: "A robust TV pilot season, a substantially improved climate for shooting commercials and the state's new film incentive helped deliver a modicum of good news to Los Angeles' beleaguered production economy in the first quarter."

guardian.co.uk: "The first time I encountered Stephen Sondheim was like everyone else: through snatches of old songs people performed in drama school, through Send in the Clowns, which everyone knew. I wasn't aware at the time that he was the writing force behind West Side Story and Gypsy. It often gets forgotten, because people think of Sondheim purely in terms of making difficult, highbrow music – which he did. But as a lyricist, he also worked on some of the most popular musicals ever."

Backstage: "Think you're better than Hollywood at gauging whether an upcoming flick will be a box office bomb or a sleeper hit? You'd get a chance to put your money behind that under two proposals that movie studios are denouncing as legalized gambling."

donhall: "Reinventing ourselves as we go through life is a natural part of being a human being. As we mature, encounter new circumstances, build new relationships, the acts of self reflection and personal growth are as necessary as breathing and feeding oneself. Without a bit of constant personal transformation, we stagnate and eventually become fetid, like a swamp."

Popular Woodworking: "The Carlos Osorio vs. One World Technologies Inc. et. al. lawsuit centers on whether the table saw being used when Osorio's accident occurred was defective. Osorio’s team claims the Ryobi BTS 15 was defective because there was no independent riving knife, no “user-friendly” guarding system and the saw did not incorporate SawStop technology or a similar technology that detects contact between a person and the spinning blade of a table saw, according to court records. The latter was the focus of the proceedings."